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Tomb Raider Film Review

Warner Bros. Pictures

Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished years earlier. Hoping to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance, Croft embarks on a perilous journey to his last-known destination -- a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. The stakes couldn't be higher as Lara must rely on her sharp mind, blind faith and stubborn spirit to venture into the unknown.

Tomb Raider has transitioned from video game icon to Hollywood success story, with Angelina Jolie bringing the character to a larger audience around fifteen years ago. Recently a reboot of the successful video game series, brought together new fans which leads us to Angelina Jolie hanging up the mantle for Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. The acclaimed new games have found success in video game circles, but does it work in a movie format? or stumble in the bin of terrible video game movies? Let us find out.

Known for her impressive work on 2015’s Ex Machina, Alicia Vikander is an upcoming actress with talents in being characters to life. Pushing her into a video game movie feels counter-intuitive, but she knocks the role out the park despite everything else is underwhelming. Vikander plays Lara Croft, a young woman working as a courier in London who refuses to accept her inheritance, as it would mean discovering more about her missing father.

Lord Richard Croft an explorer, who got lost several years back while searching for the tomb of Himiko, the Japanese goddess of death. Lara Croft has to uncover her father's past, but she discovers changes her perspective towards life in general and the Croft legacy in particular. Alica Vikander is an actress who puts her all into projects, and that continues in Tomb Raider - making us believe in the wild adventure with bruises along the way. Lara Croft feels alive here and not the badass goddess we saw in the flawed but enjoyable Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Director Roar Uthaug known for Norwegian disaster film The Wave, tries his best with surpassingly well-shot action sequences while fighting a generic script which borrows heavily from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Roar understands how to provide tension, in shot-for-shot recreations of iconic moments in the excellent 2013 Tomb Raider reboot making the 3D experience on another level. Despite dull scripting issues, Tomb Raider understands how to provide audiences with a homage to cheesy 90’s action romps.

This time around Lara Croft is not a powerful impenetrable superhero, instead has to survive on an island which is set out to test her tomb raiding abilities. Anyone who is expecting dinosaurs and dual wielding pistols will be disappointed, as Tomb Raider takes strides in reinventing the iconic female action idol. I loved the connection between Lara and her dad, with the personalities being so similar - it might sound cliche but adds another layer on the explorer. Issues lie with the villain and side characters, who do not offer anything but introducing Lara into her inevitable exploration journey. It would have been nice to see more effort into these side characters, giving Lara Croft someone to fight for.

Tomb Raider is a fun and competent action adventure, despite having the most generic plot. Filled with exciting moments and most important respect for the characters rich legacy in pop culture. While the dialogue is often clunky and the characters’ motivations are not clear, Alica Vikander does enough to establish herself in the role for future adventures to come. Vikander is indeed a worthy successor to Jolie and lets' hope the franchise makes will make use of her talents as well. But what are your opinions? will you be rading cinemas for Tomb Raider this weekend? Let us know in the comments below.